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July 17, 2015

ANT-MAN: My Top Five Review

Surprisingly enough the key’s for Ant-Man were good at midnight two nights ago so I gathered the gang and watched it before opening night. I went in not knowing what to expect. I don’t read the comics but I do love me some Paul Rudd. The best short review I read about it after seeing the film was “Ant-Man isn’t your typical Marvel bombast. Instead of a sensory assault, it’s more content with taking a quiet-and-quaint approach to introducing one of the stable’s lesser-known superheroes”(Dana Barbuto). It is very fun and light-hearted, but starts off a little slow. The second half of the movie is definitely where it’s at. Some reviewer’s said that Ant-Man is the most kid friendly Marvel movie yet but I have to disagree. Yes there are very many aspects of it that are kid friendly. There’s nothing that’s super gruesome or inappropriate, it’s funny, adorable and easy to understand the story. The problem with it being a great kids movie is that super slow first half. Kids don’t have the attention span to get through that. It builds the story and it’s an important part of the movie but 25 minutes in you’ll have kiddies running all over the theater. Then I’ll come tell you to control your shitty little child. 🙂

I really loved this movie. It didn’t put me in that “That was a great fucking movie” Euphoria like Guardians of the Galaxy did but it did make me happy. I recommend seeing it, and I recommend seeing it in 3D IMAX. I always told myself that I would only watch movies that are released in IMAX in the IMAX but I made an exception so that I could see it a little early and not have to see it with the general public. The graphics were amazing and would be 10 times more amazing in the IMAX. I almost wish I was on acid while I was watching it. I mean, I’ve never tried acid but Ant-Man seems trippy enough to see while tripping. Anyways, check it out and read some more of my thoughts on it below. Beware, there may be spoilers.

Here’s my take on Ant-Man.

TOP FIVE THINGS I LIKED:

1. Paul Rudd is a comedy man and a damn good one at that. This roll doesn’t take him out of his comfort zone with Ant-Man’s white humor and sarcastic attitude. The roll fits him perfectly, or he fits the roll perfectly. One in the same right? I fell in love with Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana in “Anchorman” and he went on to impress me in “40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, “Role Models” (my favorite), “I Love You Man” and many more. He’s great at what he does. Ant-Man turned out to be the most comedic of all of the Marvel superhero films and I love that about it. It not all action, destruction and end of your seat intensity. Sometimes superhero films are just too overwhelming for me. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they are. It’s a superhero movie. That is exactly what you should expect but this is a nice break from that. It’s a superhero movie that I will watch multiple times because of its laid back comedic attitude. The only other Marvel film I can say that about is Guardians of the Galaxy. On another note, look at how buff Mr. Rudd got for this role! So buff that they had to loosen up the Ant-Man suit so his MUSCLLEESSS would fit in it comfortably. You must read that like you’re Arnold Schwarzenegger for the right effect. Bravo Paul Rudd, we love you!

2. Michael Pena & his criminal buddies are the comedic relief to the already comedy filled movie, but they did an amazing job at it. Michael Pena’s character was honestly my favorite. Luis is Scott Lang’s old prison buddy and is the one who picks him up when he is released at the beginning of the movie. Luis invites Scott to crash on his couch until he gets back on his feet. This is where Scott meets the rest of the gang, Kurt and Dave played by T.I. They all have that dumb criminal personality that works well for the comedic setting. I laughed out loud a few times during Michael Pena’s scenes. The movie starts out with him and his buddies trying to convince Scott to do some “jobs” to get some extra cash. Which is exactly what Scott needs so that he can pay his child support and see his daughter again. Of course Scott doesn’t want to risk going back to jail where he will definitely miss out on seeing his daughter. Some how through Dr. Hank Pym’s super secret scientist powers, he is convinced to go along with one last heist to steal a fortune locked away in Dr. Pym’s safe. Dr. Pym lets him and his buddies break into his house and safe so that he can convince Scott to be the new Ant-Man. Check out the clip of the criminal idiots below.

3. Ant buddies & Antony. I never thought I would think ants were cool. I mean I probably thought they were kinda cool in grade school, but anything and everything is cool when your young. Marvel does a great job at making the ants the co-hero’s in this movie. Dr. Pym teaches Scott to control the ants by talking to them which results in some badass Ant-Man/ Ant ninja shit. You’ll have to see for yourself but expect ants that work as helicopters (and sound like helicopters), as soldiers, as bridge builders, as floating devices and just about anything you can think of. Scott treats the ants like his own personal friends and it makes for some entertaining dialogue. When Scott first meets the ant who serves as his helicopter like transportation he names him “Antony” who quickly becomes his little (or giant depending on the scene) sidekick. All I can say is, never name your pet buddies when you’re in a movie. Womp Womp. RIP Antony.

4. The aging hero mentor. I really liked the way they went with Dr. Pym’s role in the movie. He serves as the former aging hero that is mentoring the new hero who eventually takes over the superhero role. I believe they were originally going to focus on the original Ant-Man but deemed Pym as having a too un-family friendly history involving abuse and split personalities. A dark version of Ant-Man cold have been cool, I guess. I’m glad they went in this direction though, I think it worked out way better than a dark version would have. They spin the story so that Dr.Pym needs some help keeping the secrets of the Ant-Man suit from his protegé- Darren Cross or the Yellow Jacket. That is where Scott comes in as his mentor to prevent Darren from using the secrets of the suit to create weapons that could destroy the world.

5. Every genre in one. Ant-Man is an Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy. Damnnnnnn. So many genres! A great way to describe it is as a superhero “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Which is the reason it took decades for this movie to be made. Stan Lee pitched the idea of this film to New Line Entertainment when I was just a little bitty baby but they found it to similar to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” (1989) so the project then languished for decades. I’m kinda glad they waited. Otherwise we wouldn’t have Paul Rudd or we’d have yet another remake from hollywood. Anyways, this movie really is a great mix of genres all in one. I guess its missing a horror aspect but it could be a horror to some people right? People despise ants and insects! It even has a little romance in there at the end. Gotta have romance in every movie don’t we?! Or course we do!

TOP FIVE THINGS I HATED:

1. The first half of the movie was a little on the slow side. I cannot say I hated really anything about this movie so this portion of the Top Five Review was a little difficult for me. But I can tell you what might annoy you and what could have been a little better. The first half was really just a story builder. You had to get to know Dr. Pym and find out that his crazy ass protegé was about to find out Dr. Pym’s secrets of the Ant-Man suit and use that to create a bunch of super dangerous suits to sell as weapons. We gotta see Scott get out of prison so we know he is capable of being the Ant-Man with his pro breaking in and stealing things abilities. We had to see what motivated Scott to be Ant-Man and we had to watch the old Ant-Man/ new Ant-Man mentoring happen. Once all of that is out-of-the-way, it gets real good.

2. Changes from the comic. Like I said, I never read the comic book but I have heard some of the changes that happened from comic to movie. First off, Scott Lang has red hair in the comics. I’m so glad they didn’t try to color Paul Rudd’s hair red. That would be the worst. Next, Scott actually steals the Ant-Man suit in hopes of using the technology to save his sick daughter in the comics. Instead of being set up to steal something else and then getting roped into being Ant-Man. Lastly, Scott Lang’s daughter ends up becoming a size-changing super hero as well in the comics. I guess that could still happen though. That’s all of the changes I personally heard about but I’m sure there are many more. There are also a lot of easter eggs and references to the Marvel comics in the movie. You can check out this great article to read up on those.

3. Kate from LOST or Evangeline Lilly plays Dr. Pym’s daughter, Hope. I don’t dislike her as an actress at all but I dislike the characters she plays. Or maybe it is her I dislike, I don’t know. I’ve really only seen her play in this, LOST and the Hobbit movies. Her role as Hope really annoyed me. Only because Hope was an annoying character. She just came off as a little brat because she was mad at dad for not telling her what happened to her mother. She has a bunch of slide remarks to Dr. Pym because of it, which really isn’t needed. They could have started the movie with her having knowledge or her mother death, or being sucked into nothingness dimensions. She is also a little prick to Scott because she’s jealous that she’s not the one sent in the Ant-Man suit to stop her fathers evil protegé. That she works for. Its nonsense. At the end of the movie she gets everything she wants. Her father tells her the truth about her mother and he shows her the Wasp suit they were working on before her mother’s death that will not be her’s.

4. What will they do when Stan Lee dies? I know that sounds super fucked up. I love Stan Lee and it will be a tragedy to nerds all over the world when he dies. My thing is, It is not a surprise when he makes a cameo in a super hero movie anymore. I’ve just grown to accept it. My question is, will they just hologram him into every movie after he dies? Why does he need to be in every movie? I guess it doesn’t really bother me that he is in every movie. The man deserves it, and a lot more. What annoys me is the sound the theater of people make when he shows up on-screen. It’s like a half laugh, half sigh of relief. How were you not expecting that?!?! Come on. Get it together. Stay alive forever Stan Lee. I don’t know what we would do without you.

5. Phase what? These phases of the Marvel Universe annoys me. I don’t know why. I guess it’s a good way of bringing all of the hero’s together, making movies for each individual hero and all that. I’m just sick of hearing about it I guess. Ant-Man was originally supposed to be released in Phase One as an original Avenger like in the comics but that fell through and it got pushed back to Phase Two. It was then supposed to be the start of Phase three of the universe but now it looks like Captain America: Civil War will be the first. That means we will see Ant-Man in Civil War without a doubt. If you stay after the credits (all of the credits) you will see for yourself.

Well, those are my thoughts on Ant-Man. I don’t know much about the Marvel Universe because I don’t read any on going Marvel Universe comics right now. I have plans to pick up a few in the future but I am still trying to catch up on the other comics I’ve spent all of my money on. Go see this movie! I promise you won’t hate it. I’ve seen some pretty bad reviews on it but I don’t agree with any of them. Just don’t go into it expecting Avengers.